TIOL-DDT 184 · the untouched capture
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<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b><font color="#663399" size="3">TIOL-DDT
184</font><br>
22 08 2005<br>
Monday</b></font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<b>Sci-Fi (Science Finance)</b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">When a Scientist
talks Finance, it’s sheer logic and these scientists have a lot of respect
for the economists – for they handle issues far beyond scientific logic.
In our endeavour to bring to our netizens opinions of the really great personalities
far away from the confused world of taxation, today we have a scientist heading
the premier Indian Institute of Sciences, which was earlier headed by the
likes of CV Raman, Suri Bhagavantam, Satish Dhawan and CNR Rao. Prof. P Balaram,
the IISc Director is our Special Guest for this week. When scientists speak,
they do with precision and they are not confused as the tax experts are. After
an envious academic record in IIT in India and famous universities abroad,
Prof. Balaram chose to return to India to teach in IISc, more than thirty
years ago. Apparently the scientist is a very good writer as you can see from
our <b>Special Guest</b> column today.</font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<b>Customs Officer Beats up Chinese Lady Tourist</b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> A Customs officer
charged with beating a Chinese tourist said that he had acted "by the
book" during a struggle in which the woman was pepper-sprayed, thrown
against a wall and had her head forced to the pavement. <br>
<br>
"When I stopped her, she fought. I followed procedure by the book,"
said the officer. <br>
<br>
The senior Inspector is charged with depriving Zhao Yan of the constitutional
protection against unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer. He could
face 10 years in prison if convicted. <br>
<br>
Zhao, 38, who owns a furniture company in Tianjin, is suing the government
for $10 million over the incident that has drawn intense interest in China.<br>
<br>
The Inspector’s advocate has accused the government of bowing to pressure
from the Chinese and alleges that the Inspector was singled out because he
is gay.<br>
<br>
Assistant Government Attorney has denied that either political pressure or
the officer's homosexuality played a role in the indictment. <br>
The prosecution told the court that within seconds of running up to Zhao,
the officer emptied a can of pepper spray in her face and threw her against
a wall, causing her to fall to her knees, her hands clamped to her burning
eyes. When other officers couldn't pry Zhao's hands from her face to handcuff
her, the Inspector kneed her three times in the head, grabbed her hair and
pounded her head into the cement. <br>
<br>
The officer defended that he had been clawed and kicked by the Chinese woman;
“Terrorists come in all sizes, shapes and colours," his counsel
said.<br>
<br>
Fortunately our Customs officers are not so bad; this happened in that famous
US of A. </font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Customs
Computers Go Down </b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">U.S. Customs
computers were down for about five hours, due to virus, leaving international
travellers standing in long lines as agents resorted to primitive processing
technology: <b>paper</b>. <br>
<br>
The longest lines were at Miami International, the Associated Press reported,
but processing was also delayed in other major entry points, such as New York's
airports and Los Angeles International, where agents turned to a back-up computer
system. <br>
<br>
Customs agents in New York, however, were forced to process passengers by
hand. <br>
<br>
Numerous computer networks were compromised or shut down, albeit temporarily,
by the Zotob bot attacks this week on Windows 2000 PCs -- including an hour-long
tools-down shut-off of the production lines in all U.S. Daimler/Chrysler auto
plants -- but it couldn't be confirmed if Customs' problem was connected to
the bots. <br>
<br>
According to Netcraft, a U.K.-based Web performance tracker, Customs runs
its Springfield, Va.-based Web site off Linux servers using Apache software.
<br>
<br>
Its back-end software, however, may run under an entirely different operating
system. </font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Inspectors’
arrest – association protests against CBI high handedness</b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> THE Customs
and Central Excise Executive Officers’ Association (CCEEOA), Chandigarh
Zone, has strongly condemned the dictatorial and manipulative behaviour of
CBI sleuths while arresting two Central Excise Inspectors. <br>
<br>
The CBI had last week arrested two Inspectors of Central Excise while allegedly
accepting bribes from a lady Financial Consultant. On a complaint from her
the CBI laid a trap and arrested the officers.<br>
<br>
The Association protests that the Inspectors were needlessly manhandled in
the open market and dragged to the Central Revenue building. Further the CBI
DSP had used abusive language. Central Excise officers in Chandigarh Zone
are to wear black badges today in protest.<br>
<br>
After all CBI is police and they have never won an award for good manners.
</font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Hand-pulled
rickshaws to ply in US, Germany</b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> The hand pulled
rickshaws may be out of the roads in Kolkotta but soon they are to land up
in some Western countries. Some countries, including the US and Germany, are
planning to introduce the hand-pulled rickshaws, says a company in China,
which is making upscale hand pulled rickshaws for importing them to New York
city for novelty tour rides. <br>
<br>
<font color="#FF6666"><b>Until tomorrow with more DDT<br>
<br>
Have a nice day. <br>
<br>
Mail your comments to</b></font> <b><a href="vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com">vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com
</a></b></font> </p>
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